Tickets on sale soon for:

Urinetown – ARAS Musical Theatre Company: Saturday, May 31, 2008, Matinee & Evening Performances Al Green Theatre (750 Spadina Avenue), Tickets: $15.00

The Grimm Brothers – ARAS Young Drama Company: Friday, June 13, 2008, 7:30pm George Ignatieff Theatre (6 Hoskin Avenue), Tickets: $15.00

Watch the Upcoming Events page for more details and online ticket ordering

Ensemble, Martha Johnson and Student/Artists, Cantine Bar & Grill, 138 Avenue Road, March 3-30, 2008.

Passage, Anna Yuschuck, Art Gallery of Peel (main & hallway galleries), 9 Wellington Street East, Brampton, March 5-April 13, 2008.

KARA ("empty sky" in Japanese), Daisuke Takeya, Japan Foundation, 131 Bloor Street West, March 11-May 9, 2008. The event commemorates the 8th anniversary of Japan-Canada diplomatic relations.

Jennifer Gould is nominated for a Juno Award for Best Children's Album of the year for her CD, Music Soup. The Juno Awards take place on April 6, 2008.

Phil Irish is included in the Manifestation Internationale d'Art de Quebec (Manif 4). His project is entitled I'll Meet you There. The event opens on May 1 and runs until June 15, 2008, 160 rue Saint-Joseph Est, Quebec.

Group Show, Eric Louis Budovitch, Loch Gallery, 16 Hazleton Avenue, June1-15, 2008.

Rachel McQuillan and the students in her Friday Drawing & Painting class will be working with Sick Kids' Hospital this May 2008 to create fun and uplifting murals and cartoon character paintings in some of the child-friendly rooms at the hospital.

New Paintings, Moira Clark, XEXE Gallery, 624 Richmond Street West, Opening May 31, 6 pm, running until June 28, 2008,

Some Other Country, Sadko Hadzihasanovic´, Paul Petro Contemporary Works, 980 Queen Street West, Opening June 19, 7 pm, running until July 19, 2008.

Sadko Hadzihasanovic´ will be working in Paris for four months this spring and summer on a grant from the Canadian Council for the Arts. Only eight artists from Canada receive this grant every year. Sadko's project is about the art of wallpaper and its usage in his art.

Moira Clark & Sadko Hadzihasanovic´ will have work published in a book representing contemporary Toronto painters. The book is set for release on November 21, 2008 and will be entitled Carte Blanche Volume 2: Painting (Magenta Publications). To celebrate the release of this book, there will be an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art in Toronto, 952 Queen Street West.

Canadian Soprano, Jean Edwards, soared into her 9th decade recently by treating her family, friends and fans to a marvelous evening of song and reminiscences at the Arts and Letters Club. After a delightful concert and a scrumptious birthday cake, guests had the opportunity to purchase the songstresses' most recent CD. Jean very generously donated the proceeds of these sales to the Arts Scholarship Fund which resulted in four talented students getting the opportunity to hone their artistic skills by attending art classes on scholarship.

Last winter Ariella Minden and Dylan Kerdman, two young students from the Avenue Road Arts School, asked guests attending their Bat Mitzvah's to make donations to the Arts Scholarship Fund in lieu of gifts to them. Together they were responsible for providing the funds to a large number of students to develop their creative talents.

It is through the generosity of people like Jean, Ariella and Dylan that a number of young people can benefit from what is often a life-changing opportunity.

Sometimes we don't know how talented we really are until we have the chance to learn some skills and express ourselves artistically. For many young people, when they discover they are good in one discipline, they develop a taste for excellence – which spills over into other parts of their life. Many of us are lucky enough to know, first hand, what a powerful impact an inspiring art teacher can have on us. The Arts Scholarship Fund gives young people these opportunities.

How did a collaborative art show entitled Ensemble come into existence? Under the guidance of Martha Johnson, artist and faculty member, an ensemble of her acrylic painting students created self-portraits. This, in turn, evolved into a whole art exhibit.

The exhibition, which was on display at Cantine Bar & Grill from March 3 to 30, featured the work of select adult artists/students that Martha has instructed over the years at the Avenue Road Arts School. "There were a number of artists who were ready to take their work to the next level, specifically to exhibit," said Martha Johnson. "The process of showing work in a public space is very important, as it allows artists to release their creative energy and move on to new things."

The artists exhibiting their work with Martha Johnson included: Tony Altilia, Karen Cantello, Ann Caverly, Susie Colomvakos, Tania Craan, Gill Deacon, Deborah Farquharson, Cathy Krever, Leigh MacMillan, Sarah Margolius, Margarita Mena, Lyne-Francois Pelletier, Nancy Peterman, Jennifer Tai and Sabina Theobalds.

For more information on Martha's classes, please visit the website.

Students of artist and instructor Sadko Hadzihasanovic´ did a double take last month in his Drawing classes when his identical twin brother, Sladko showed up at the Avenue Road Arts School. While Sadko left the former Yugoslavia in 1992 to create a life in Canada as a successful artist, Sladko remained back home and became a civil engineer, designing bridges and roads. The brothers will be living a little closer together in May when Sadko goes to Paris for four months on a Canada Council Grant.

And it seems that identical twins run in the faculty. Julie Frost has taught thousands of students since her arrival at the Avenue Road Arts School in 1997. Even they could easily be fooled by her identical twin, Janet. Can you tell which is the real Julie?